Stories Told by Publications about the Relationship between Industry 4.0 and Lean: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

Industry 4.0 and its application in the business has been the focus of attention by the academy, for its ability to establish principles of flexibility and connectivity along the shop floor. Meantime, because of a lean wave in the 1990’s, most of the western industry adopted principles, techniques and tools of lean production, whose results were quickly captured, guaranteed its adoption worldwide. Thus, with a view to turning traditional manufacturing companies into smart companies, it is essential to preserve the existing system and find ways for the two concepts (Lean and I4.0) to come together. This study was conducted based on a systematic literature review, using the Scopus database. The PRISMA process was the method used to select the articles. Finally, to analyze and discuss the results, the bibliometric analysis of the articles and content analysis were adopted. The results point to a greater impact of I4.0 technologies on lean, since it was perceived that I4.0 technologies give to lean tools a more dynamic way of working, accelerating information sharing processes and improving production manager’s and operator’s decision making. In the perspective of lean’s contribution to I4.0; however, there is little practical and theoretical application, thus the actual contribution is still somewhat blurred.